Cyclones Defeat Toilers In High School Senior Girls Basketball
They fans may have mixed up their signage but it didn’t take long for the Central Cyclones senior girls basketball team to get aggressive against the Peacock Toilers.
In a game where the Toilers targeted the Cyclones’ Addison Simpson’s inside game forcing her to the outside and the Cyclones hit back with a strong base passing scheme any outcome was possible.
But in the end a more aggressive Cyclones powered themselves to victory.
The signs were out as the Central Gymnasium was full as part of a ‘Pack the Gym’ night - MJ Independent photo
“I think it was a good group effort. I think we worked on a lot of things we needed to work on. We were aggressive. It was a good game,” Cyclones head coach Tanya McLean.
Asked if she could comment about where the team is sitting right now and how close it was to where they wanted to be she said it was pretty difficult because this was only their second game this year.
“I as happy in how they played tonight. Defensively they played well. We still need to work on some discipline things but that will come.”
The Cyclones are in a bit of a rebuild this season with only three returning players from last year.
There was no surprise for McLean the Toilers worked to shut down the center lane on the Cyclones Addison Simpson.
“I think they all know Addison she’s a grade 12. They all know she is a strong player on our team and everybody is going to be focused on her,” she said.
Despite the Toilers’ seeming special interest Simpson managed to score 12 points.
McLean said it wasn’t a surprise the Toilers went to a zone defence but the Cyclones simply needed to adjust to open it up.
When asked about what she was looking forward to this season she said “lots of new players.”
“We just need to start yelling together as a new team. We’ve got a lot of speed and athleticism and I think they’re going to do well this year,” she said.
About archrivals Vanier she said the Cyclones haven’t met them yet but hoped they would measure up.
Tuesday’s game against the Toilers is the Cyclones second regular season league game so far.
“Peacock is a good team. They are coached well. They always give it a good game.”
A big part of the Cyclones game plan right now is to get all of their players playing time.
They sat some of their better players to allow the new players an opportunity to play and improve.
Despite the loss the Toilers coaches are happy with their team’s performance.
“The girls did a good job. You know Centeal is a great team. They had great fast breaks and good transitions. They got us on that but the girls put up a strong front so I’m proud of them,” Peacock Toilers assistant coach Kaitlyn Kitts said.
She said the Toilers changed their defence to contain the Cyclones’ Simpson on the scoreboard.
“I think we did an all right job against Addison. We switched to a zone right away and took away her inside game and forced her to play outside a little bit more. So I don’t think she killed us as much as she could have,” Kitts said.
Asked if she had noticed any improvement from their last game versus the Vanier Spirits she said “100 percent”.
“We’re still a young team and a little hesitant decision making wise so I think is going to come with time. I think every game we’re getting better,” Kitts said.
The Toilers now go on a Christmas break.
